O Brother Bible-Life Study on Racism

Clip of the Klan Rally

What did you think about the clip? What groups were mentioned that Klan leader (Homer Stokes) didn’t like? What do you think his problems were with those groups?

Some KKK background…Did you know that the Klan used to lynch (to put to death by a mob without legal approval) blacks and killed them? (In June of 1998, a sadistic murder of a middle-aged black man from Jasper, Texas, rekindled memories of lynching practices from the blood stained American past. James Byrd, Jr., 49, was beaten savagely to the point of unconsciousness, chained to the back of a pickup truck by his neck, and dragged for miles over rural roads outside the town of Jasper. It is believed that Byrd survived through most of this experience, that is, until he was decapitated. Three white men, John William King, 23, Shawn Berry, 23, (both of whom had links to white supremacist groups) and Lawrence Brewer Jr., 31, were arrested. Brewer and King were sentenced to death for a racial hate crime that shocked the nation. Berry was sent to prison for life.)

Lynchings happened in the 50s and 60s during the struggle for Civil Rights, mainly in the South. 3 students, 1 black and 2 white and Jewish were killed by the Klan for trying to help with Civil Rights in 1964 Mississippi. This past week, kid awarded 2.5 million for being beaten by Klan members in Kentucky.
Their HQ is in Zinc, AR, outside of Harrison. Klan/white supremacist groups have had rallies in AR within the past 4 or 5 years. Was unfortunately resurrected by a failed Methodist Preacher. That is just one of many organizations that spread racist ideas.

The group was asked:
What do you think racism means?
Students’ responses were written down. If students struggle with a definition, a few suggested dictionary-based ideas such as “judgment or opinion not based on fact” or “attitude of hostility directed toward a group or race.”

Is racism a problem in NLR or at school? If so, what are some examples of racism? Where else do you see racism? Anything else recently where you have seen it? Have any of you ever made a racist joke or comment? Why? What do you think causes people to be racist?
How does race affect your everyday life? Do you see your race as a help, a hindrance, or both? Explain.


In groups, students discussed a time they’ve felt prejudice against —perhaps because of your race, your intelligence, your religion, your gender, or your family.

Then each trio read Romans 14:10-12 So where does that leave you when you criticize a brother? And where does that leave you when you condescend to a sister? I'd say it leaves you looking pretty silly—or worse. Eventually, we're all going to end up kneeling side by side in the place of judgment, facing God. Your critical and condescending ways aren't going to improve your position there one bit. Read it for yourself in Scripture: "As I live and breathe," God says, "every knee will bow before me; Every tongue will tell the honest truth that I and only I am God." So tend to your knitting. You've got your hands full just taking care of your own life before God.

Then we discussed these questions:
Why did you think you were judged unfairly?
According to this Bible passage, why will God judge us?
How does this passage affect how you feel about the prejudice you experienced?

After a few minutes, this was said and discussed: People often treat one another in ways that hurt deeply. In Romans 14:10, Paul asked why we judge and think we’re better than others. He taught that only God can judge people and that God’s justice never fails.
Have students tear their cards into tiny pieces and throw them in the trash. Then ask:


Most of us have felt some sort of prejudice, but how often have we shown prejudice to other people based on their looks or stereotypes we have about their race or ethnic group? We then formed our own made-up ethnic groups.
Have students form four groups. The groups were given prejudiced ideas about the 3 other groups and then acted out scenarios where they were around the other groups, and had to treat them according to their 'prejudices'.

After a few minutes, say: I’m going to call out some situations, and I want you to interact with each other as if you were really in those situations. As you react, keep in mind the stereotypes you’ve read about the other groups.

Once the role-playing was complete, everyone gathered back together and each group received a copy of how the other groups were specifically prejudiced toward them and then we discussed:.
How did it feel to be treated a certain way just because of the color on your back?
Is there anything true about the traits assigned to your group? false? Explain.
This was a kind of goofy example, but how does it pertain to what we have talked about? Have you believed stereotypes about other races or groups? Why or why not? We lump people into groups together and oftentimes assume they are all the same. That is like saying that everyone in your whole family is the same…
How does the truth that God’s justice never fails affect how you treat people of other ethnicities? how you respond when people act prejudiced against you or a friend from another ethnicity?

After the discussion, we read John 4:1-42
The Woman at the Well
1-3 Jesus realized that the Pharisees were keeping count of the baptisms that he and John performed (although his disciples, not Jesus, did the actual baptizing). They had posted the score that Jesus was ahead, turning him and John into rivals in the eyes of the people. So Jesus left the Judean countryside and went back to Galilee.

4-6To get there, he had to pass through Samaria. He came into Sychar, a Samaritan village that bordered the field Jacob had given his son Joseph. Jacob's well was still there. Jesus, worn out by the trip, sat down at the well. It was noon.

7-8A woman, a Samaritan, came to draw water. Jesus said, "Would you give me a drink of water?" (His disciples had gone to the village to buy food for lunch.) 9The Samaritan woman, taken aback, asked, "How come you, a Jew, are asking me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?" (Jews in those days wouldn't be caught dead talking to Samaritans.) 10Jesus answered, "If you knew the generosity of God and who I am, you would be asking me for a drink, and I would give you fresh, living water."

11-12The woman said, "Sir, you don't even have a bucket to draw with, and this well is deep. So how are you going to get this 'living water'? Are you a better man than our ancestor Jacob, who dug this well and drank from it, he and his sons and livestock, and passed it down to us?" 13-14Jesus said, "Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again and again. Anyone who drinks the water I give will never thirst—not ever. The water I give will be an artesian spring within, gushing fountains of endless life." 15The woman said, "Sir, give me this water so I won't ever get thirsty, won't ever have to come back to this well again!"

16He said, "Go call your husband and then come back." 17-18"I have no husband," she said. "That's nicely put: 'I have no husband.' You've had five husbands, and the man you're living with now isn't even your husband. You spoke the truth there, sure enough." 19-20"Oh, so you're a prophet! Well, tell me this: Our ancestors worshiped God at this mountain, but you Jews insist that Jerusalem is the only place for worship, right?"

21-23"Believe me, woman, the time is coming when you Samaritans will worship the Father neither here at this mountain nor there in Jerusalem. You worship guessing in the dark; we Jews worship in the clear light of day. God's way of salvation is made available through the Jews. But the time is coming—it has, in fact, come—when what you're called will not matter and where you go to worship will not matter.

23-24"It's who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That's the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship. God is sheer being itself—Spirit. Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration."

25The woman said, "I don't know about that. I do know that the Messiah is coming. When he arrives, we'll get the whole story." 26"I am he," said Jesus. "You don't have to wait any longer or look any further." 27Just then his disciples came back. They were shocked. They couldn't believe he was talking with that kind of a woman. No one said what they were all thinking, but their faces showed it. 28-30The woman took the hint and left. In her confusion she left her water pot. Back in the village she told the people, "Come see a man who knew all about the things I did, who knows me inside and out. Do you think this could be the Messiah?" And they went out to see for themselves.
It's Harvest Time

31In the meantime, the disciples pressed him, "Rabbi, eat. Aren't you going to eat?" 32He told them, "I have food to eat you know nothing about." 33The disciples were puzzled. "Who could have brought him food?" 34-35Jesus said, "The food that keeps me going is that I do the will of the One who sent me, finishing the work he started. As you look around right now, wouldn't you say that in about four months it will be time to harvest? Well, I'm telling you to open your eyes and take a good look at what's right in front of you. These Samaritan fields are ripe. It's harvest time!

36-38"The Harvester isn't waiting. He's taking his pay, gathering in this grain that's ripe for eternal life. Now the Sower is arm in arm with the Harvester, triumphant. That's the truth of the saying, 'This one sows, that one harvests.' I sent you to harvest a field you never worked. Without lifting a finger, you have walked in on a field worked long and hard by others." 39-42Many of the Samaritans from that village committed themselves to him because of the woman's witness: "He knew all about the things I did. He knows me inside and out!" They asked him to stay on, so Jesus stayed two days. A lot more people entrusted their lives to him when they heard what he had to say. They said to the woman, "We're no longer taking this on your say-so. We've heard it for ourselves and know it for sure. He's the Savior of the world!"

and discussed these questions:
How did Jesus break traditional barriers by speaking to the woman at the well?
How did the Samaritans respond to Jesus’ interaction with them?
How did the disciples respond when they saw Jesus with the Samaritan woman?
How would Jesus respond to prejudice in your school and neighborhood?
How does Jesus’ example affect how you’ll treat people from other races or ethnic groups?
How might the way you treat people from other races or ethnicities be an example to others?

Then this was said: Genesis 1:27 So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Jesus taught us and showed us by his actions that prejudice and racism are wrong. You can make a difference in the world by treating all people equally and by modeling Christ’s love for everyone.

We had students pray together and for each other in their groups, asking God to help them identify and tear down their own racial prejudices and to respond in a Christlike manner when prejudice is expressed against them.